Thursday, December 10, 2015

We are delighted and grateful to announce that Marsh Hawk Press has received a grant from the Community of Literary Magazines (CLMP) and the New York State Council on the Arts. The grant will help the press support its Spring and Fall 2016 authors.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Marsh Hawk is a bit late to sharing this, but it's still worth sharing! Janice Worthen of Small Press Distribution (SPD) recommends Jason McCall's Dear Hero! You can go HERE (scroll to mid-page) for the total text of her recommendation, but here's an excerpt:

McCall reveals the dualities and pluralities of our time in a way that is humorous, melancholic, and even self-deprecating. Sometimes his book reads like an employee manual or survival guide for the modern hero, who somehow finds it necessary to make ends meet. Other times, it serves as a stage for heroic and anti-heroic speeches.

Occasionally a single speaker steps out of the story and is able to see it in relation to the real world. What this speaker realizes is our epic stories are really "a mirror." Our only real power is "denial," and "you use that gift to make the world make-believe." Such power may harness superheroes but is no match for "the universe [that] remembers we weren't supposed to be anything more than dust."

The hero fantasies serve as escape but may also be the public's fatal flaw. People dream their lives away in the world of "make-believe" only to find their "heroes will turn/ to dust, and [they] will beg/ to know how [they] ever managed/ to become so small."

McCall leaves us wondering if, instead of the helpless and innocent public, we are instead the villain, the hero-breakers. We will do anything to keep our fantasies alive: "We cast nightmares/ to protect our dreams."

253 36th Street, Third Floor, Ste. C304Brooklyn, NY 11232Paolo notes that David Mason, aka Listening Center, and he will also perform live tracks from their EP, My Aspiring Villain.Go HERE for more information.

Sharon Dolin sends a message about the Center for Book Arts' POETRY CHAPBOOK PROGRAM. Its deadline for the 2016 competition has been updated to Dec. 16, 2015. The contest will be judged by Mary Ruefle and Sharon Dolin.

You can go HERE for more information, and to download the PDF application!